FTF-ITT Program 2018

Dr. A K Singh Deputy Director General (Horticultural Science), Indian Council of Agricultural Research inaugurated the International Training Program on “Value Addition in Spices” on 16 May 2018. The programme is jointly organized by ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research (ICAR-IISR), Kozhikode and The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad. The 15 day programme is a part of Feed the Future - India Triangular Training (FTF-ITT) Program, a collaborative venture of USAID and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Govt. of India. The training is attended by 22 executives from various Afro-Asian countries. They shall be trained on latest advances in value addition technologies of spice crops. Dr. K NirmalBabu, Director, ICAR-IISR, Dr. Homey Cheriyan, Director, Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development,Dr. Ravi Nandi, MANAGE, Dr. T. John Zachariah, Programme Coordinator and Dr. Santhosh J. Eapen, Head, Crop Protection Division, ICAR-IISR also spoke on the occasion.

Highlighting the significant role of value addition and post-harvest processing in developing countries, Dr. A K Singh said that Promotion of value addition activities and strengthening of value chain in agricultural commodities are crucial for the efforts aimed at doubling farm income in India. He stressed the importance of creating awareness about cultivating specific varieties suited to meet the demand from industries. He hoped that the participating countries in the training programme will benefit from the expertise available in India and lead to deployment of ecologically sustainable and ecologically viable spice processing and value addition technologies in the respective countries.

ICAR-IISR, Kozhikodehas been selected as a Partner Institute for providing training on value addition in spices considering its vast domain expertise in the area of spices research. The FTF-ITT program aims to provide training to 1400 agricultural professionals from 17 partner countries of Africa and Asia by 2020. The training programme is designed to address human and institutional capacity gaps in food & nutritional security in specific areas in select African and Asian countries. The training will enable partner countries in adapting technological advances and innovative solutions to address Food Security Challenges in Asia and Africa.